On This Day In History.......

0999 Gerbert of Aurillac elected as 1st French Pope
1416 Alfonso V succeeds his father as king of Aragón
1513 Explorer Juan Ponce de León claims Florida for Spain
1550 Jews are expelled from Genoa Italy
1559 England/France signs 1st Treaty of Le Cateau-Cambrésis
1590 States-General appoints earl Mauritius, viceroy of Utrecht
1595 Cornelis de Houtman's ships depart to Asia through Cape of Good Hope
1645 Robert Devereux resigns as parliament supreme commander
1745 Austria & Bavaria sign peace
1792 Congress establishes Philadelphia mint; US authorizes $10 Eagle, $5 half-Eagle & $2.50 quarter-Eagle gold coins & silver dollar, ½ dollar, quarter, dime & half-dime
1800 1st performance of Ludwig von Beethoven's 1st Symphony in C
1819 1st successful agricultural journal ("The American Farmer") begins
1827 Joseph Dixon begins manufacturing lead pencils
1845 H L Fizeau & J Leon Foucault take 1st photo of Sun
1860 1st Italian Parliament met at Turin
1863 Bread revolt in Richmond VA
1864 Skirmish at Crump's Hill (Piney Woods), Louisiana
1864 Skirmish at Spoonville/Antoine AR
1865 CSA President Jefferson Davis flees Confederate capital of Richmond VA
1865 General A P Hill is killed by a Federal Picket
1865 Lee's line is broken at Petersberg
1865 Battle of Fort Blakely AL & Selma AL
1865 Battle of Petersburg VA (Fort Gregg, Sutherland's Station)
1866 President Andrew Johnson ends war in Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, Louisiana, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee & Virginia
1870 Victoria Woodhull is 1st woman to be nominated for US President
1872 George B Brayton patents gasoline powered engine
1876 Philadelphia A's & Boston Red Caps play 1st National League game, in Philadelphia
1877 1st Easter egg roll held on White House lawn
1878 1st issue of Rotterdam's Newspaper
1883 Battle at Bamako French assault on Fabous arm forces attack
1884 London prison for debtors closed
1900 1st edition of The Volk published (Amsterdam)
1902 1st motion picture theater opens (Los Angeles CA)
1902 Soccer team MVV '02 forms in Maastricht
1905 Cairo-Capetown railway opens
1906 South Africa completes a 4-1 series drubbing of England
1908 Mills Committee declares baseball was invented by Abner Doubleday
1912 Titanic undergoes sea trials under its own power
1912 Sun Yet Sen forms Guomindang-Party in China
1916 German troops overtake Bois de Caillette
1917 President Woodrow Wilson asks Congress to declare war against Germany
1917 Jeannette Rankin becomes 1st woman member of US House of Representatives
1921 Professor Albert Einstein lectures in NYC on his new theory of relativity
1926 Riots between Moslems & Hindus in Calcutta
1930 1st New York-Bermuda airplane flight lands in Bermuda
1931 Teenage girl strikes out Babe Ruth & Lou Gehrig in an exhibition game in Chattanooga TN
1932 Charles Lindbergh turns over $50,000 as ransom for kidnapped son
1935 Mary Hirsch, becomes 1st woman licensed as a horse trainer
1935 Sir Watson-Watt patents RADAR
1939 6th Golf Masters Championship Ralph Guldahl wins, shooting a 279
1941 German occupier disallows Dutch scouting association
1941 USS Hornet with Jimmy Doolittles B-25 departs from San Francisco
1944 CPI-leader Palmiro Togliatti returns to Italy
1944 Dmitri Shostakovitch's 8th Symphony, premieres in New York
1944 Soviet Army marches into pro-German Romania
1945 1st US units reach east coast of Okinawa
1947 Carlo Terron's "Il diamente del profeta", premieres in Rome
1950 WTAR (now WTKR) TV channel 3 in Norfolk VA (CBS) begins broadcasting
1953 Raab forms his 1st government in Austria
1954 Plans to build Disneyland 1st announced
1955 Pancho Gonzales retains tennis title by winning a tournament playing under table tennis rules
1955 US female Figure Skating championship won by Tenley Albright
1955 US male Figure Skating championship won by Hayes A Jenkins
1956 Soap operas "As the World Turns" & "Edge of Night" premiere on TV
1956 Peter Ustinov's "Romanoff & Juliet" premieres in Manchester England
1958 National Advisory Council on Aeronautics renamed NASA
1958 Wind speed reaches 450 kph in tornado in Wichita Falls TX (record)
1958 Antillean Brewery (Amstel beer) opens
1960 Cuba buys oil from USSR
1960 KPEC TV channel 56 in Lakewood Center-Tacoma WA (PBS) 1st broadcast
1963 Explorer 17 attains Earth orbit (254/914 km)
1963 USSR launches Luna 4; missed Moon by 8,500 km
1964 USSR launches Zond 1 to Venus; no data returned
1964 Josef Klaus succeeds Alfons Gorbach as chancellor of Austria
1964 Military coup in Brazil by General Castello Branco, President Goulart ousted
1965 Hochhuths play "Stellvertreter" banned in Italy
1966 Soviet Union's Luna 10 becomes 1st spacecraft to orbit Moon
1966 WJET TV channel 24 in Erie PA (ABC) begins broadcasting
1967 Actress Lynn Redgrave marries John Clark
1967 Susie Maxwell wins LPGA Louise Suggs Golf Invitational
1968 Beatles form Python Music Ltd
1968 Chad creates Union of Central African States
1968 Senator Eugene McCarthy wins Democratic primaries in Wisconsin
1969 Milwaukee Bucks sign (Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (Lew Alcindor)
1970 2 men begin ascent of south face of Annapurna I, the highest final stage in a wall climb in the world
1970 Meghalaya becomes autonomous state within India's Assam state
1970 Qatar gains independence from Britain
1971 Sci-fi soap opera "Dark Shadows" concludes an almost 5 year run
1972 Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin visits Cairo Egypt
1972 44th Academy Awards - "French Connection", Gene Hackman & Jane Fonda win
1972 Tennessee Williams' "Small Craft Warnings" premieres in NYC
1973 Ed Kemper stuffs mother's throat in disposal
1973 CBS radio begins on hour news 24 hours a day
1973 ITT pleads guilty to asking CIA to affect Chilean presidential election
1974 Arganat Committee publishes report concerning Yom Kippur War
1974 46th Academy Awards - "The Sting", Glenda Jackson & Jack Lemmon win
1974 Tony Greig takes 8-86 vs West Indies Port-of-Spain (later 5-70 in 2nd inning)
1976 A's trade prospective free agents Reggie Jackson & Ken Holtzman, to Orioles for Don Baylor, Mike Torrez & Paul Mitchell
1976 Cambodia's Khieu Sampan succeeds prince Sihanouk as premier
1976 Portuguese constitution assumed
1977 Fleetwood Mac's "Rumors", album goes to #1 & stays #1 for 31 weeks
1977 Montréal Canadiens set NHL record of 34 straight home games without a loss
1978 TV show "Dallas" premieres on CBS (as a 5 week mini-series)
1978 7th Colgate Dinah Shore Golf Championship won by Sandra Post
1978 Basil Williams scores 100 on Test Cricket debut, vs Australia Georgetown
1978 Velcro was 1st put on the market
1979 Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin visits Cairo Egypt/meets President Sadat
1980 Wayne Gretzky becomes 1st teenager to score 50 goals in a season
1981 Belgium's 4th government of Martens resigns
1981 Heavy battle between Christian militia & Syrian army in East Lebanon
1982 In exhibition game A's pitcher Steve McCatty comes to bat using a 15" toy bat (under Billy Martins orders), protesting disallowing of DH
1982 Several thousand Argentine troops seize disputed Falkland (Malvinas) Islands
1984 46th NCAA Mens Basketball Championship Georgetown beats Houston 84-75
1985 US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
1986 4 US passengers killed by bomb at TWA counter Athens Airport Greece
1986 George Corley Wallace (Governor-Democrat-AL) announces retirement plans
1986 NCAA adopts 3-point basketball rule (19 feet 9 inch distance)
1987 "Mikado" opens at Virginia Theater NYC for 46 performances
1987 Doc Gooden undergoes cocaine rehabilitation
1987 IBM introduces PS/2 & OS/2
1988 Simply Majestic sets horse racing's 1-1/8 mile record at 1:45
1988 Test Cricket debut of Curtly Ambrose, West Indies vs Pakistan, Georgetown
1989 Yankees beat Mets 4-0, sweeping 1989 mayor's trophy series in 2 games
1989 18th Nabisco Dinah Shore Golf Championship won by Juli Inkster
1989 8th NCAA Women's Basketball Championship Tennessee beats Auburn 76-60
1989 Wrestlemania V at Trump Plaza, Hulk Hogan beats "Macho Man" Savage
1990 52nd NCAA Men's Basketball Championship Nevada-Las Vegas beats Duke 103-73
1991 Rotterdam Daily Newspaper begins publishing
1992 Country singer Wynonna Judd's 1st appearance as a single act
1992 John Gotti found guilty in death of Paul Castallanos
1992 Space Shuttle STS-45 (Atlantis 11) lands
1992 "Hamlet" opens at Criterion Theater NYC for 45 performances
1992 Edith Cresson, France's 1st female premier, resigns
1993 1st test flight of Fokker 70 (Amsterdam)
1993 Venezuelan DC-10 crashes at Margarita, killing 10
1994 1st exhibition game played at Jacobs Field, Pirates beat Indians, 6-4
1995 14th NCAA Women's Basketball Championship University of Connecticut Huskies beats Tennessee 70-64
1995 7th Seniors Golf Tradition Jack Nicklaus
1995 New York Police Department & New York Transit Police merge into one organization
1995 North & Western Colorado begins using new area code 970
1995 Owners accept baseball players proposal, agree to delay start of season until April 26
1995 Sunday New York Times raises price from $2.00 to $2.50
1995 Wrestlemania XI in Connecticut-Lawrence Taylor defeats Bam Bam Bigelow
1996 Sri Lanka 9-349 in 50 overs beat Pakistan 315 all out, Singapore Jayasuriya hits ton in 48 balls, world ODI record at Singapore
1996 Tigers slugger Cecil Fielder steals 1st base in 1,097th career game
1997 "Doll's House", opens at Belasco Theater NYC
1998 World Mens Figure Skating Championship in Minneapolis MN; Russian Alexei Yagudin wins
2000 19th NCAA Women's Basketball Championship at Corel State Spectrum
2001 63rd NCAA Men's Basketball Championship at Metrodome Minneapolis
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Missing In Action.....

1965 EVANS JAMES J. VALLEY FALLS KS 10/71 REMAINS RECOVERED ID'D 4/22/77
1966 DOUGHTY DANIEL J. LADYSMITH WI 02/12/73 RELEASED BY DRV ALIVE AND WELL 98
1967 DRAMESI JOHN A. GRENLOCK NJ 03/04/73 RELEASED BY DRV ALIVE IN 1996
1969 POWERS LOWELL S. SCOTTSDALE AZ
1972 ASTORGA JOSE M. OAKLAND CA 03/05/73 RELEASED BY PRG INJURED ALIVE IN 96
1972 BOLTE WAYNE L. CLAREMORE OK
1972 FRINK JOHN W. ALBUQUERQUE NM CHOPPER EXPLODED W/SUBJ ABOARD REMAINS RETURNED 04/94
1972 GATWOOD ROBIN F. JR. HICKORY NC
1972 GIANNANGELI ANTHONY R. LANSFORD PA
1972 KULLAND BYRON K. NEW TOWN ND CHOPPER EXPLODED W/ SUBJ ABOARD REMAINS ID'D 4/02/94
1972 LEVIS CHARLES A. FORT WORTH TX
1972 PASCHALL RONALD P. ALDERWOOD MANOR WA CHOPPER EXPLODED W/ SUBJ ABOARD REMAINS ID'D 4/02/94
1972 SEREX HENRY M. NEW ORLEANS LA

Births which occurred on April 02:

0742 Charlemagne 1st Holy Roman emperor (800-14)
1602 Maria de Jesus de Agreda [Maria Coronel] Spanish franciscan
1618 Francesco M Grimaldi mathematician/physicist (light defraction)
1628 Constantin Christian Dedekind composer
1632 Georg Caspar Weckler composer
1711 Jan Punt Dutch engraver/illustrator/actor (Gideonschool)
1713 Onno Zwier van Haren Frisian poet (Fatherland)
1725 Casanova writer
1728 Franz Asplmayr composer
1733 Giacomo Tritto composer
1735 Christian Gotthilf Tag composer
1735 Franz Volrath Buttstett composer
1740 Armand-Gaston Camus French CEO (Council of 500)
1763 Giacomo Gotifredo Ferrari composer
1798 Hoffmann von Fallersleben writer
1803 Franz Paul Lachner composer
1805 Hans Christian Andersen Denmark, author of 150 fairy tales
1806 Giacomo Antonelli Italian cardinal/Assistant Secretary of State for Pius IX
1814 Henry Lewis "Old Rock" Benning Brigadier General (Confederate Army)
1817 Teodulo Mabellini composer
1826 Philip Dale Roddey Brigadier General (Confederate Army), died in 1897
1827 William Holdman Hunt English painter (Light of the World)
1833 Thomas Howard Ruger Brevet Major General (Union volunteers)
1834 Frédéric-Auguste Bertholdi France, sculptor (Statue of Liberty)
1840 Émile Zola France, novelist (Nana, J'Accuse)
1841 Clément Ader French engineer
1862 Nicholas Murray Butler US, Columbia University president/pacifist (Nobel 1931)
1863 Henry C Van de Velde Flemish painter/architect (Art Nouveau)
1868 Eduard Jacobs singer/pianist (Dutch cabaret)
1875 Walter Chrysler founded Chrysler car company
1877 Arnold Schering German musicologist (Humor, Heldentum, Tragik)
1891 Max Ernst Germany, painter/sculptor (founded surrealism)
1894 Rudolph P Cleveringa Dutch anti-nazi lawyer
1894 Walter Mittelholzer Swiss aviation pioneer (Swiss Air)
19-- Sam Anderson Wahpeton ND, actor (Sam Gorpley-Perfect Strangers)
1900 Heinrich Besseler German musicologist
1901 Anis Fuleihan composer
1902 Danilo Svara composer
1905 Serge Lifar Kiev, dancer, choreographer (Paris Opéra Ballet)
1905 Edmond Jouhaud General
1905 Kurt Adler therapist/writer
1907 Irene Mayer Selznick producer (Street Car Named Desire)
1908 Buddy Ebsen Belleville IL, actor (Beverly Hillbillies, Barnaby Jones)
1909 Jean Kurt Forest composer
1910 Arnie Herber NFL quarterback (Green Bay Packers, New York Giants)
1910 Joeri German Russian writer
1911 Charles "Honi" Coles tap dancer (Tap)
1914 Sir Alec Guinness [de Cuffe] London England, thespian (Colonel Nicholson-Bridge on River Kwai, Obi-Wan Kenobi-Star Wars, George Smiley-Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy)
1915 Antony Dornhorst professor of medicine
1915 Arthur Ballard artist
1917 Dabbs Greer Fairview MO, actor (Gunsmoke, Little House on Prairie)
1917 Lou Monte Lyndhurst NJ, singer (Peppino the Italian Mouse)
1919 Sir Ian Hunter England, impresario
1919 Antoon J Hubben Dutch mayor (Maasbree)/trade union leader
1920 Jack Webb Santa Monica CA, actor (Joe Friday-Dragnet)
1920 Lambertus van Straaten geologist (Waddenzee, Rhône-delta)
1922 Nikolaj G Bassov Russia, atomic physicist (laser, Nobel 1964)
1923 Sir Hugh Overton British diplomat
1923 Jacob "Jaap" Firet Dutch theologist (Agogisch Moment)
1924 Sir Denis Rooke CEO (British Gas)
1925 George MacDonald Fraser poet/author (Flashman at the Charge)
1926 Michael Rizzello sculpter/coin designer
1926 Elena Verdugo Hollywood CA, actress (Consuelo-Marcus Welby MD)
1927 Billy Pierce pitcher (Chicago White Sox) seven time all star
1928 Joseph "Cardinal" Bernardin of Chicago
1928 Rita Gam Pittsburgh PA, actress (Distortions, Hannibal, Sierra Baron, Mohawk)
1928 Serge Gainsbourg [Ginsburg] Russian/French singer (Ford Mustang)
1929 Catherine Gaskin romantic novelist (Fiona, Coporation Wife)
1929 Frans HJJ Andriessen Dutch MP (KVP/CDA)
1930 Girolamo Arriego composer
1930 W Hambleden Smith English newspaper magnate
1931 Imre Olsvai composer
1932 Mahmood Hussain Pakistani cricket swing bowler (68 wickets in 27 Tests)
1934 Brian Glover actor (McGuffin)
1934 Christopher France British permanent secretary (Department of Health)
1934 Sir Peter Middleton British permanent secretary (Treasury)
1934 Diane Cilento Rabaul,, actress (Hombre, Tom Jones, Wicker Man)
1935 Sharon Acker Toronto Ontario Canada, actress (Della Street-Perry Mason 1973)
1936 Jack Brabham Australia, race car driver (world champion 1966)
1937 Paul E Kanjorski (Representative-Democrat-PA, 1985- )
1939 Marvin P Gaye Jr Washington DC, singer (Sexual Healing)
1940 Penelope Keith British actress (Norman Conquests, Priest of Love)
1940 Peter Haining writer/editor (Anatomy of Witchcraft)
1941 Leon Russell Lawton KS, pianist/singer (Carny)
1942 Graham Bright private secretary to British PM
1943 Glen Dale [Richard Garforth] rock vocalist (Fortunes Deal)
1943 Larry Coryell Galveston TX, jazz guitarist (11th House)
1945 Don Sutton baseball pitcher (Los Angeles Dodgers)
1945 Linda Hunt Morristown NJ, actress (Bostonians, Eleni, Silverado)
1945 Lord Skelmersdale British minister ©
1946 Kurt Winter rocker (The Guess Who)
1946 Lynda Carr educationist
1946 Richard Collinge cricketer (New Zealand record wicket-taker (116) before Hadlee)
1947 Emmylou Harris Birmingham AL, country singer (Together Again)
1947 Camille Paglia Endicott NY, actress (Female Misbehavior, It's Pat)
1948 Joan D Vinge American writer (Tangled Up In Blue, The Snow Queen, Catspaw)
1948 Eleanor Margaret Burbridge astronomer/educator
1948 Joan [Carol] D[ennison] Vinge US, sci-fi author (2 Hugos, Dune)
1948 Kerry Minnear rocker (Gentle Giant)
1948 Marlene Floyd LPGA golfer
1949 Paul Gambaccini British disc jockey
1949 Pamela Reed Tacoma WA, actress (Grand, Kindergarten Cop, Home Court)
1951 Ayako Okamoto Hiroshima Japan, LPGA golfer (1990 Sara Lee)
1952 Dan Halldorson Winnipeg Manitoba Canada, Canadian Tour golfer (1985 World Cup)
1952 Joseph Kent Massey Oklahoma City OK, soling yachter (Olympics-bronze-1996)
1952 Leon Wilkerson rocker (Lynard Skynard)
1953 Debralee Scott Elizabeth NJ, actress (Cathy-Mary Hartman, Angie)
1953 David Robinson drummer (Cars)
1954 Ron Palillo Cheshire CT, actor (Arnold Horshack-Welcome Back Kotter)
1956 Farrukh Zaman lefty cricket spinner (bowled 10 overs Pakistan vs New Zealand 1976)
1959 Adrian Meagher Australian baseball pitching coach (Olympics-1996)
1959 Brian Goodell US, 400 meter/1500 meter freestyle swimmer (Olympics-2 gold-1976)
1959 Carmen Ayala-Troncoso New York NY, 5K runner
1959 Dean Townson St Petersburg FL, singer (Pirates of the Mississippi-Fred Jake)
1959 Gelindo Bordin Italian marathon runner (Olympics-gold-1988)
1959 Ken Macleay cricketer (at Bedford-on-Avon Australian ODI medium pacer)
1959 Victoria Jackson Miami FL, comedian (Saturday Night Live, Casual Sex)
1960 Linford Christie St Andrews Jamaica, 4x100 meter runner (Olympics-gold 1992
1961 Cindy Mackey Athens GA, LPGA golfer (1986 MasterCard International Pro-Am)
1961 Gijs Steinmann Dutch soccer player (Go Ahead Eagles)
1961 Keren Jane Woodward Bristol England, rock vocalist (Bananarama-Venus)
1962 Alex Tripolski Israel, Men's Shooting 50 meter air pistol (Olympics-16th-1996)
1962 Billy Dean Quincy FL, country singer (Billy the Kid)
1962 Bruce Kozerski NFL tackle/guard (Cincinnati Bengals)
1963 Dermot Reeve England, cricketer (in Hong Kong England all-rounder 1992)
1964 Pete Incaviglia Pebble Beach CA, outfielder (Philadelphia Phillies)
1965 Rodney King Sacramento CA, black motorist beaten by Los Angeles cops
1966 Andrei Kovalev NHL forward (Belarus, Olympics-98)
1966 Bill Romanowski NFL linebacker (Eagles, Denver Broncos-Superbowl 32)
1966 Willie Green NFL wide receiver (Denver Broncos-Superbowl 32)
1969 Yj Nagata [Yuji] wrestler (NJPW)
1970 Jerry Reynolds NFL guard/tackle (New York Giants)
1970 Jon Lieber Council Bluffs IA, pitcher (Pittsburgh Pirates)
1970 Marcus Christensen Toronto Ontario Canada, figure skater (1995 Canadian-2nd)
1970 Tammi Reiss WNBA guard (Utah Starzz)
1971 James Ransom Toronto Ontario Canada, Epee fencer (Olympics-96)
1971 Jenny Craig Miss Georgia-USA (1996)
1971 Todd Woodbridge Sydney Australia, tennis star ('95 doubles Wimbledon)
1972 Graham Hood Winnipeg Manitoba Canada, 1.5k runner (Olympics-92, 96)
1975 Deedee Magno rocker (Party-Rodeo, That's Why)
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Deaths which occurred on April 02:

1118 Boudouin I of Bologne/Edessa, 1st crusader/king of Jerusalem, dies
1416 Ferdinand I the Justified, king of Aragon/Sicily, dies at 52
1502 Arthur English crown prince/husband of Catharina of Aragón, dies
1640 Matthias C Sarbiewski [Sarbievius], Polish jesuit/poet, dies at 45
1657 Ferdinand III King of Hungarian/Bohemia/German Emperor, dies at 48
1705 Johann Lohner composer, dies at 59
1747 Johann J Dillenius German botanist, dies at 63
1758 Johann Balthasar Konig composer, dies at 67
1784 Pierre Leclair composer, dies at 74
1803 Hieronymus van Alphen Dutch attorney/poet (church hymns), dies at 56
1831 Charles Felix blind King of Sardina (1821-31), dies at 74
1852 Theodor Althaus writer, dies
1865 Richard Cobden founder Anti-Corn-Law League, dies at 60
1865 Ambrose Powell Hill Confederate General, killed in action at 39
1872 Samuel F B Morse developer of electric telegraph, dies at 80
1876 Paul van Vlissingen Dutch ship owner, dies at 78
1890 Marinus Campbell bibliographer, dies at 70
1892 Willem J d'Ablaing van Giessenburg Dut baron/genealogist, dies at 79
1910 Boyd Alexander English explorer (Niger to the Nile), murdered at 37
1910 Friedrich von Bodelschwingh German theologist, dies at 79
1928 Theodore Richards US chemist (atomic weight, Nobel 1914), dies
1932 Hugo Kaun composer, dies at 69
1933 K S Ranjitsinhji cricketer (989 Test runs, 1st-class average 56), dies
1937 Nathan Birnbaum Austria philosopher (Zionism), dies at about 72
1938 Alice Berend writer, dies
1941 Paul Teleki premier Hungary, dies
1944 Mikulas Moyzes composer, dies at 71
1947 Joseph Hardstaff cricket (311 runs in 5 Tests for England 1907-08), dies
1951 Simon Barere pianist, dies while perfoming at Carnegie Hall
1952 Bernard F Lyot French astronomer (chronograph, Lyot-filter), dies at 55
1953 Jean Epstein French director (Vive la Vie), dies at 56
1956 Albert de Bassompierre Belgium ambassador to Tokyo, dies at 82
1956 Chester Clute actor (Niagara Falls), dies at 65
1956 Philippo de Pisis Italian painter, dies at 59
1959 Benjamin Christensen Danish actor (Barnet, Mockery), dies at 79
1961 August Defresne Dutch director (Anno Christi 969), dies at 67
1961 Wallingford Riegger US composer (Bacchangle), dies at 75
1965 Renzo Bossi composer, dies at 81
1966 Cecil Scott Forester English author (Horatio Hornblower), dies at 66
1969 Fortunio Bonanova actor (My Best Gal, Havana Rose), dies at 74
1972 Gil Hodges manager (New York Mets), dies of heart attack at 57
1974 Douglass Dumbrille actor (Mr Deed Goes to Town), dies at 84
1974 Georges Pompidou French President, dies in Paris at 62
1976 Ray Teal actor (Sheriff Roy Coffee-Bonanza), dies at 74
1979 Carroll D Rosenbloom Los Angeles Rams president, dies at 72
1979 Ivan Barrow cricketer (11 Tests for West Indies 1930-39), dies
1980 Dick Howorth cricketer (England slow lefty all-rounder late 40's), dies
1987 Buddy Rich drummer/orchestra leader (Away We Go), dies at 69
1990 Aldo Fabrizi actor (Postman Goes to War, Open City), dies at 85
1992 Paula Kelly singer/actress (Sweet Charity), dies at 72
1993 Eugenie Leontovitch actress (4 Sons, Homicidal), dies at 93
1993 Klaas Schenk Dutch speed skater/coach/father of Ard, dies at 86
1994 Richard Davies actor (Pvt Buckaroo), dies of heart attack at 79
1995 Hannes Alfven physicist (Nobel prize), dies at 86
1995 Harvey Penick premier golf instructor/author, dies at 90
1995 Julius Arthur Hemphill saxophonist, dies at 57
1997 Tomoyuki Tanaka producer (Godzilla), dies of a stroke at 86

1777 Ebenezer Learned is promoted to brigadier general

On this day in 1777, the Continental Congress promotes Colonel Ebenezer Learned to the rank of brigadier general of the Continental Army.

Learned was an experienced military man who served the British during the French and Indian War. In 1757, he contracted smallpox at Fort Edward near Lake George in New York and spent a month confined to the hospital. At the end of the war, he returned to farming in Oxford, Massachusetts. Upon the outbreak of the American Revolution, though, Learned became active in a local militia before being named colonel of the Massachusetts Committee of Safety in April 1775.

Learned was given command of the pivotal Dorchester Heights position at the siege of Boston in March 1776 by General George Washington and was the first to enter Boston after the British evacuation. Due to illness, Learned was forced to temporarily resign his position in May 1776, but returned to active duty in April 1777.

After being promoted to brigadier general, Learned was reassigned to the Northern Department of the Continental Army, leading troops in several battles, including the Battle at Freeman’s Farm in September 1777 and the pivotal Battle of Saratoga in October 1777.

Following the American victory at the Battle of Saratoga, General Learned was ordered to join General Washington at Valley Forge, where Learned formed and commanded a division within the Massachusetts Brigade under General Baron Johan DeKalb. Due to continued health problems, Learned was forced to resign his position for good in March 1778, but continued to serve Massachusetts in several elected positions until his death in 1801.
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1863 Bread riots in Richmond

Responding to acute food shortages, hundreds of angry women riot in Richmond, demanding that the government release emergency supplies. For several hours, the mob moved through the city, breaking windows and looting stores, before President Jefferson Davis threw his pocket change at them from the top of a wagon. Davis ordered the crowd to disperse or he would order the militia to fire upon them. The riot ended peacefully, although 44 women and 29 men were arrested.
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1865 Union captures Petersburg line and General Hill is killed

After a ten-month siege, Union forces under Ulysses S. Grant capture the trenches around Petersburg, Virginia, and Confederate General Robert E. Lee leads his troops on a desperate retreat westward.

The ragged Confederate troops could no longer maintain the 40-mile network of defenses that ran from southwest of Petersburg to north of Richmond, the Rebel capital 25 miles north of Petersburg. Through the winter, desertion and attrition melted Lee's army down to less than 60,000, while Grant's army swelled to over 120,000. Grant attacked Five Forks southwest of Petersburg on April 1, scoring a huge victory that cut Lee's supply line and inflicted 5,000 casualties. The next day, Lee wrote to Confederate President Jefferson Davis, "I think it absolutely necessary that we should abandon our position tonight..."

Grant's men attacked all along the Petersburg front. In the predawn hours, hundreds of Federal cannon roared to life as the Yankees bombarded the Rebel fortifications. Said one soldier, "the shells screamed through the air in a semi-circle of flame." At 5:00 in the morning, Union troops silently crawled toward the Confederates, shrouded in darkness. Confederate pickets alerted the troops, and the Yankees were raked by heavy fire, but the determined troops poured forth and began overrunning the trenches. Four thousand Union troops were killed or wounded, but a northern officer wrote, "It was a great relief, a positive lifting of a load of misery to be at last let at them."

Confederate General Ambrose Powell Hill, a corps commander in the Army of Northern Virginia and one of Lee's most trusted lieutenants, rode to the front to rally his men. As he approached some trees with his aide, two Union soldiers emerged and fired, killing Hill instantly. Hill had survived four years of war and dozens of battles only to die during the final days of the Confederacy. When Lee received the news, he quietly said "He is at rest now, and we who are left are the ones to suffer."

By nightfall, President Davis and the Confederate government were in flight and Richmond was on fire. Retreating Rebel troops set ablaze several huge warehouses to prevent them from being captured by the Federals and the fires soon spread. With the army and government officials gone, bands of thugs roamed the streets looting what was left.
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1917 Woodrow Wilson asks U.S. Congress for declaration of war

“The world must be made safe for democracy,” U.S. President Woodrow Wilson proclaims on this day in 1917, as he appears before Congress to ask for a declaration of war against Germany.

Under Wilson, the former Princeton University president and governor of New Jersey who was voted into the White House in 1912, the United States had proclaimed its neutrality from the beginning of World War I in the summer of 1914. Even after the German sinking of the British passenger ship Lusitania in May 1915, which killed 1,201 people, including 128 Americans, caused a public outrage in the U.S. and prompted Wilson to send a strongly worded warning to Germany, the president was re-elected in 1916 on a platform of strict neutrality. Late that same year, Wilson even attempted to broker a peace between the Allies and the Central Powers, which was looked at favorably by Germany but eventually rejected by both France and Great Britain.

The first months of 1917, however, brought new offenses by Germany against American interests at sea, namely the resumption of the German navy’s policy of unrestricted submarine warfare on February 1 and the sinking of the American cargo ship Housatonic two days later. An angry Wilson broke off diplomatic relations with Germany that same day. Meanwhile, British intelligence had decoded and informed the U.S. government of a secret message sent by the German foreign secretary, Arthur Zimmermann, to the German ambassador to Mexico. The so-called Zimmermann Telegram proposed a Mexican-German alliance in the case of war between the United States and Germany and promised Mexico financial and territorial rewards for its support. Wilson authorized the State Department to publish the text of the telegram; it appeared in America’s newspapers on March 1, provoking a great storm of anti-German sentiment among the U.S. population.

With German submarine warfare continuing unabated, the final straw came on April 1, 1917, when the armed U.S. steamer Aztec was torpedoed near Brest and 28 of its crew members drowned. The next day, Wilson stepped before Congress to deliver his historic war message, making clear exactly how high he considered the stakes of the war to be. “It is a fearful thing to lead this great peaceful people into war, into the most terrible and disastrous of all wars, civilization itself seeming to be in the balance.” Despite the risks, Wilson felt the U.S. could not stand by any longer; in the face of continued German aggression, the nation had the moral obligation to step forward and fight for the principles upon which it had been founded.

“We shall fight for the things which we have always carried nearest our hearts,” Wilson famously intoned, “for democracy, for the right of those who submit to authority to have a voice in their own governments, for the rights and liberties of small nations, for a universal dominion of right by such a concert of free peoples as shall bring peace and safety to all nations and make the world itself at last free.” In this speech, Wilson displayed the idealism and moral fervor that characterized his view of the rightful role of the U.S. in the world—a supremely self-righteous outlook that would earn him acclaim from many and criticism and derision from others during his lifetime and after his death (especially after his pet project at war’s end, the League of Nations, proved a failure). It was also an outlook that would, for better or worse, determine the direction of U.S. foreign policy for decades to come, up to and including the present day.

On April 4, the U.S. Senate voted in favor of war by 82 votes to 6; two days later, the House of Representatives delivered their own yes vote by 373 votes to 50, formally announcing the entrance of the United States into the First World War.
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1941 "The Desert Fox" recaptures Libya

On this day in 1941, German Lieutenant General Erwin Rommel, "the Desert Fox," resumes his advance into Cyrenaica, modern-day Libya, signaling the beginning of what nine days later will become the recapture of Libya by the Axis forces.

Early Italian successes in East Africa, which included occupying parts of Sudan, Kenya, and British Somaliland, were soon reversed after British offensives, led by British Field Marshall Archibald Wavell, resulted in heavy Italian casualties and forced the Italians to retreat into Libya. But Axis control of the area was salvaged by the appearance of Rommel and the Afrika Korps, sent to East Africa by the German High Command to bail their Italian ally out.

On the verge of capturing Tripoli, the Libyan capital, Britain's forces were suddenly depleted when British Prime Minister Winston Churchill transferred British troops to Greece. Seizing the opportunity of a weakened British force, Rommel struck quickly, despite orders to remain still for two months. With 50 tanks and two fresh Italian divisions, Rommel forced the British to begin a retreat into Egypt.

Operation Battleaxe, the counteroffensive by British Field Marshall Archibald Wavell, resulted in little more than the loss of large numbers of British tanks to German 88mm anti-tank guns, as well as Wavell's ultimately being transferred from North Africa to India.

Rommel, known for his trademark goggles, which he pilfered from a British general's command vehicle, may have had some help in defeating his British counterpart. He was known to carry with him a book called Generals and Generalship, written by Archibald Wavell.

Rommel was portrayed by James Mason in the 1953 film The Desert Rats and by Christopher Plummer in 1967's Night of the Generals. Wavell was portrayed by Patrick Magee in the 1981 TV movie Churchill and the Generals.
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1972 North Vietnamese troops capture part of Quang Tri

Soldiers of Hanoi's 304th Division, supported by Soviet-made tanks and heavy artillery, take the northern half of the Quang Tri province. This left only Quang Tri City (the combat base on the outskirts of the city) and Dong Ha in South Vietnamese hands. South Vietnam's 3rd Division commander Brig. Gen. Vu Van Giai moved his staff out of the Quang Tri combat base to the citadel at Quang Tri City, the apparent North Vietnamese objective.

This attack was the opening move of the North Vietnamese Nguyen Hue Offensive (later called the "Easter Offensive"), a massive invasion by North Vietnamese forces designed to strike the blow that would win them the war. The attacking force included 14 infantry divisions and 26 separate regiments, with more than 120,000 troops and approximately 1,200 tanks and other armored vehicles. The main North Vietnamese objectives, in addition to Quang Tri in the north, were Kontum in the Central Highlands, and An Loc farther to the south.

Initially, the South Vietnamese defenders were almost overwhelmed, particularly in the northernmost provinces, where they abandoned their positions in Quang Tri and fled south in the face of the enemy onslaught. At Kontum and An Loc, the South Vietnamese were more successful in defending against the attacks, but only after weeks of bitter fighting. Although the South Vietnamese suffered heavy casualties, they managed to hold their own with the aid of U.S. advisors and American airpower. Fighting continued all over South Vietnam into the summer months, but eventually the South Vietnamese forces prevailed against the invaders and retook Quang Tri in September. With the communist invasion blunted, President Nixon declared that the South Vietnamese victory proved the viability of his Vietnamization program, instituted in 1969 to increase the combat capability of the South Vietnamese armed forces.
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1975 South Vietnamese evacuation begins at Qui Nhon.

As North Vietnamese tanks and infantry continue to push the remnants of South Vietnam's 22nd Division and waves of civilian refugees from the Quang Ngai Province, the South Vietnamese Navy begins to evacuate soldiers and civilians by sea from Qui Nhon. Shortly thereafter, the South Vietnamese abandoned Tuy Hoa and Nha Trang, leaving the North Vietnamese in control of more than half of South Vietnam's territory. During the first week in April, communist forces attacking from the south pushed into Long An Province, just south of Saigon, threatening to cut Highway 4, Saigon's main link with the Mekong Delta, which would have precluded reinforcements from being moved north to assist in the coming battle for Saigon.

This action was part of the North Vietnamese general offensive launched in late January 1975, just two years after the cease-fire had been established by the Paris Peace Accords. The initial objective of this campaign was the capture of Ban Me Thuot in the Central Highlands. The battle began on March 4 with the North Vietnamese quickly encircling the city. As it became clear that the communists would take the city and probably the entire Darlac province, South Vietnamese president Thieu decided to protect the more critical populous areas. He ordered his forces in the Central Highlands to pull back from their positions. Abandoning Pleiku and Kontum, the South Vietnamese forces began to move toward the sea, but what started out as an orderly withdrawal soon turned into panic. The South Vietnamese forces rapidly fell apart. The North Vietnamese pressed the attack and were quickly successful in both the Central Highlands and farther north at Quang Tri, Hue and Da Nang. The South Vietnamese soon collapsed as a cogent fighting force and the North Vietnamese continued the attack all the way to Saigon. The South Vietnamese surrendered unconditionally on April 30.